The present invention relates to an electric kettle comprising a tubular body having a side wall, heating means comprising at least one electrical resistance associated with a metal heating plate mounted in sealed relation in the lower portion of the body and delimiting with the side wall of the body a reservoir for the liquid to be heated. Said heating plate being in direct contact, by its upper face, with the liquid to be heated, and support means adapted to support a peripheral rim of the heating plate.
In a known electric kettle of this type, with a so-called hidden resistance, the peripheral rim of the heating plate is supported by abutments projecting on the internal surface of the side wall of the body of the kettle; the heating plate is maintained in place by means of a gripping member shaped as a face with a transverse section of U shape whose base constitutes the bottom of the body of the kettle and whose two lateral wings are clasped resiliently about the side wall of the body so as to retain the latter compressed about the heating plate. This assembly of the heating plate has the advantage of being able to be dismounted from the external base of the body of the kettle to give easy access to the heating plate to withdraw it for repair.
Moreover, in such a kettle, the heating plate is associated by its lower face, not only with the electrical resistance, but also with electrical members for regulation and safety which are the object of electric cable during the production of the kettle or after repair of the heating plate, this cable as well as the provision of electrical connections with the resistance taking place manually after mounting of the heating plate in the body of the kettle.
In the case of the known kettle described above, the electric cabling operation as well as the regulating and safety members of the heating plate as well as the heating resistance, is carried out inverted and without the external base, to permit access to the heating plate. However, in the absence of the external base, the heating plate risks no longer being correctly held in place in the body of the kettle and hence to take an unstable position, which renders difficult and painstaking the operation of electrical cabling.
The invention has particularly for its object to overcome these drawbacks and to provide an electric kettle of the type described above, in which the securement of the heating plate is simple to carry out, reliable, easily disassembleable for access to the heating plate to repair, and permits in the course of production of the kettle or after repair of the heating plate, an easy operation of cabling the different electrical members associated with the heating plate.
According to the invention, the support means comprise a piece forming a skirt which extends vertically within the body, between the peripheral rim of the plate and the lower peripheral edge of the body, supporting with its upper peripheral edge the lower surface of the peripheral rim of the heating plate, and which is fixed on the internal surface of the side wall of the body by first reversible securement means, and the body of the kettle comprises a bottom constituted by a closure cover which is fixed on the piece forming a skirt by a second reversible securement means.
Thus, the heating plate is maintained in place on the piece forming an internal skirt, which is fixed on the internal surface of the side wall of the body of the kettle and which is then closed at its base by securement of the cover forming the bottom itself of the body of the kettle, thus leading to a rapid and reliable mounting of the heating plate in the kettle. Moreover, it will be understood that in the case of acting on the heating plate to repair it, it suffices to remove first the cover and then the piece forming a skirt to have access to and to remove the heating plate, and that in the course of production of the kettle or after repair of the plate, the body being returned and the cover unmounted, the heating plate remains perfectly held in place in the body thanks to the securement of the piece forming an internal skirt on the internal surface of the side wall of the body, thereby facilitating cabling of the various electrical members associated with the heating plate.